Post em' Up! Non-Coniferous Yamadori in the Americas

rockm said:
FWIW, photos of Cedar Elm progression beginning in 1989 from the Texas State Bonsai Exhibit. Bill Cody was one of the first pioneers with the species. He learned a lot about how to dig it and cultivate it, what it likes and doesn't.

http://www.ttsbe.org/cedarelm7#h31b539bf

http://www.ttsbe.org/cedarelm3#hce481c1

http://www.ttsbe.org/cedarelm1#h22b8b85b

http://www.ttsbe.org/cedarelm4#h398dac27

http://www.ttsbe.org/cedarelm11#h3cf16acf
Click to expand...

A display that big in my yard would be awesome,great trees
 
Seeing no one has posted up any Bald Cypress, figured I would post mine. I know BC are considered in theory "deciduous conifers", but seeing they have a totally different growth pattern than most "conifers"... I think they almost would be better suited in with the deciduous trees. So, I am posting this up!

This I dug out of a lake here in Florida. Not really because it was of some great quality worthy of collecting, quite the contrary... It was near the shore where my relatives would put their boats into the lake and they always kept cutting it down in hopes of killing it and getting rid of it. Of course it never happened, would just keep shooting up new growth. So, one day I decided to remove it for them... and rather than just throwing it away, I decided to pot it.

I am not really a big fan of BC as Bonsai... love them in the wild, so figured I would design the tree as I liked it and not necessarily how others might normally style a BC. On my relatives lake, they use to have quite a few very old mostly dead trees like this, jutting out of the lake that we use to dive off of and climb. One always had to be very careful of the water moccasins that also loved the trees!

Overall height of this tree is only 14 inches tall... so somehow I have managed to make a very large tree normally into a very small and compact tree. All of the hollowing out and carving I did. In another couple of months it will be replanted into a smaller and more appropriate pot. Which I am quite certain will be a water planting. Originally this tree sat for years in a concrete mixing tub, with no drain holes, and filled with water. The trick I have found when doing a water planting with BC, is to remove all of the soil, wash it off good, and then only plant it in sphagnum moss and water. The sphagnum moss actually helps retain water better, if you forget to add water now and then, helps give the tree something to cling onto and helps retain a cooler temperature within the pot.

BC1a.jpg
 
A couple of Bougies collected... The first one from a abandoned property, the second from a friends yard. The first one is a pretty large tree... the pot it is in is just under 20 inches wide! I was growing out new branching that had come in, and we were getting a lot of rain at the time, thus the reasoning for the very large leaf size... they will reduce down quite far, for the moment however, still concerning myself with establishing the branching. It flowers all of the time, but I just cut them off right now.

Second is a Pink Pixie, which had a little trouble this year, but seems now to be headed in the right direction. They are extremely slow growing in comparison to the normal bougies, I have found... so this tree in all actuality is probably well over 50 years old.


bougieA.jpg




cascadebougieA.jpg
 
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Bending the rules, I see! Now we can also include larches and dawn redwoods, right? ;)

I do like your bald cypress overall, though I'm not sure about those "things" that appear to be old dead roots on the lower left part of the trunk. Maybe those need some carving to roughen them up a bit?

I have one bc that I'm developing from nursery stock, currently in the ground. Not sure what direction to take it...could easily go with the standard formal upright conifer look, or a more flat top style. A lot of people have strong opinions about the latter and I do like that style, but it is not something I've seen in the wild...so not sure if I can really style one effectively that way.

Chris
 
coh said:
Bending the rules, I see! Now we can also include larches and dawn redwoods, right? ;)

I do like your bald cypress overall, though I'm not sure about those "things" that appear to be old dead roots on the lower left part of the trunk. Maybe those need some carving to roughen them up a bit?

I have one bc that I'm developing from nursery stock, currently in the ground. Not sure what direction to take it...could easily go with the standard formal upright conifer look, or a more flat top style. A lot of people have strong opinions about the latter and I do like that style, but it is not something I've seen in the wild...so not sure if I can really style one effectively that way.

Chris
Click to expand...
I said you could with the opening post... Really the whole point of the tread was just to see some of the different types of native material that can make great Bonsai... Seeing that there seems to be this train of thought right now that only Junipers and Pines are capable of being this! Which is a load of BS! I haven't even begun to post up the collected material I currently have, and would be more than happy to remove the BC if folks thought it didn't belong in the discussion.

As far as designing your tree... not sure if this helps or not... but I always just do what I want to see happen with the tree! Reason being? It's my tree! Folks can do what they want on their own tree! LOL!

For instance, in my last post of the Bougies, the first tree folks often would say that it is styled as a pine is... with downward facing branching... but, what these folks are not considering, would be the growth pattern of a bougie. If the point is to show them in flower... then one would understand that in all actuality, the better way to style them is as I have done, seeing that the flowers grow and protrude up! Styling as I have done also allows for more light to reach the branching, allowing for more flowers.
 
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I'm just messin' with ya a bit! I agree with your comments about styling, the first bougie looks just fine...
 
Anthony said:
All of the West Indian / Barbados Cherry [ Malpighia e ] come from the yard, planted by birds, as do the Sageretia t and Fukien teas, do we count
those as yamadori ?

By the way some of these Malpighia e, shrubs, weep as well, and have rounded or pointed leaves.

Here is a small West Indian Cherry.
Good Day
Anthony

View attachment 89352
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting both trees!
The first, is this the tree that you believe is a new form of Buttonwood?

The second is a Barbados Cherry, correct?
If so do you have any pics with fruit? So folks could see what they look like?

Also, one thing I have found about crossing roots as this tree has, is if one can perhaps bring others like some of those to the left over in front and to follow the angle of the front crossing root, it seems to help with the design...

In otherwards, if one cannot hide, cannot remove... add to it, and make it look as if it is an intentional design characteristic.

If able, check out some of Min Lo's trees... he has alot of crazy exposed root trees. Where often because of being collected, you cannot remove... so the trick then is to try and design them so they are cohesive. Often you will need to separate and wire them just as one does branches.

If you are growing these trees from seeds, I would suggest trying to work these out as they develop. Will add to the design of the tree immensely!

As far as calling a collected tree from a landscape... some would argue that it is not a true yamadori. These folks don't live in heavily populated areas... they actually have wild to collect from. To me personally it does not matter, as long as it has character and age.
 
thumblessprimate1 said:
I've seen some nice olives and bougainvillea from California. I don't have pictures of them though.

Here's a little something from my yard.

View attachment 89353
http://bonsainut.com/index.php?threads/mahonia-anyone.21245/
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting!
This is a very cool tree, it kinda reminds me of the Lantana I opened up with. What do the flowers look like.
I would like to see this a shohin in a nice pot. Do the leaves reduce?
 
sawgrass said:
Thanks for posting!
I think this has some awesome potential!
Do the wild grapes grow like a vine?
Click to expand...

Yes, they do. The vertical trunk you see in the picture was originally horizontal, and the runners came off the top, extending maybe 15 feet or so. Here is a picture of the tree in October of 2014.

ul wild grape 10-5-14.jpg

The foliage can be stunning.
 
fredtruck said:
Yes, they do. The vertical trunk you see in the picture was originally horizontal, and the runners came off the top, extending maybe 15 feet or so. Here is a picture of the tree in October of 2014.

View attachment 89405

The foliage can be stunning.
Click to expand...
It has very nice foliage color!
Reason why I asked is that I have seen some really amazing examples of material that is mostly a vine being used in bonsai.
 
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